Who is Joseph Kony?
Kony is a former choirboy from northern Uganda who leads a personality cult and militia that he calls the Lord's Resistance Army. He founded the group in the late 1980s, modelling it on the Holy Spirit Movement, led by a similarly charismatic former prostitute, Alice Lakwena, who presented herself as the defender of the Acholi people of northern Uganda, against the government in Kampala of Yoweri Museveni. Lakwena promised her warriors immunity from bullets if they rubbed themselves with shea butter. She was defeated by Museveni's troops in 1988 and fled to Kenya, clearing the path for Kony. He first called his militia the Ugandan People's Democratic Army (UPDA), then the Holy Spirit Mobile Force, and then the LRA.
What do Kony and the LRA want?
It is difficult to identify any consistent aims. The group started off as an Acholi militia and then adopted Christian rhetoric with a heavy dose of mysticism. But, as support from the Acholi fell away, Kony increasingly victimised civilians who refused to join him. Whatever Christian characteristic the LRA may have had also fell away to be replaced by a personality cult centred on Kony. As the militia has been forced out of Uganda and moved into southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, there is has been less emphasis on defeating Museveni. Its aims have narrowed to survival and pillage.
What crimes has Kony committed?
The first arrest warrants ever issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague were aimed at Kony and four of his LRA commanders, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The 2005 indictments include charges of murder, rape, the sexual enslavement of women and girls and forcing children to fight. The Ugandan army has also been accused of using child soldiers, but the LRA's reputation for brutality is unparalleled. When Kony's troops attack a village, they usually kill most of the adult population and abduct the children. They have been accused of forcing boys to kill their parents as an initiation rite. Girl are shared out among the commanders as sex slaves. The LRA has practised mutilation as a tool of terror, cutting off the lips, noses and ears of its victims.
Now Kony apparently has been terrorizing these people with impunity for almost 25 years, largely ignored by the international community.
Recently these atrocities have been brought to the attention of the American people with the assistance of a viral video titled simply Kony 2012, put together by filmmaker Jason Russell and featuring interviews with his son Jacob reacting to information about the atrocities of Joseph Kony.
However even before this video Kony's crimes had come to the attention of our President.
In October of 2011, after hearing reports of these atrocities, President Obama, with the US military still engaged in two wars, decided to take action to help the people of central Africa.
"I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield," Obama said in letter sent Friday to House Speaker John Boehner and Daniel Inouye, the president pro tempore of the Senate. Kony is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army.
One hundred soldiers is relatively nothing considering the enormity of these horrific actions against the people of central Africa, but the President had to be cautious since he was dealing with a hostile Republican party, and his every action was under intense scrutiny.
However considering the reports coming out of the area, WHO could fault the President for wanting to lend support to these people?
Who indeed?
"Now, up until today, most Americans have never heard of the combat Lord’s Resistance Army. And here we are at war with them. Have you ever heard of Lord’s Resistance Army, Dawn? How about you, Brian? Snerdley, have you? You never heard of Lord’s Resistance Army? Well, proves my contention, most Americans have never heard of it, and here we are at war with them. Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. It means God."
Overlooking the detailed record of their brutality and bizarre practices, Mr. Limbaugh then added: “They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops, to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. So that’s a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda.”
After suggesting that Mr. Obama “supported” violence against Coptic Christians by Muslims in Egypt, Mr. Limbaugh then read aloud what he called the “Lord’s Resistance Army objectives.” I have them here.
“To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.” Now, again Lord’s Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out. The objectives of the Lord’s Resistance Army, what they’re trying to accomplish with their military action in these countries is the following: “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people; to fight for the immediate restoration of the competitive multiparty democracy in Uganda; to see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans; to ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda, to ensure unity, sovereignty and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans, and to bring to an end the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the L.R.A. ideology.” Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting.
The conservative host, who has previously demonstrated a fondness for sharing information found on Wikipedia with listeners, even when it is incorrect or misleading, appears to have taken this list of objectives from a defense of the Lord’s Resistance Army delivered by one of its leaders 14 years ago, which is featured in the online encyclopedia’s entry on the group’s ideology.
Mr. Limbaugh did not mention that the speech defending the rebel group was made in 1997 at a peace conference, organized by members of the ethnic group the Lord’s Resistance Army claims to represent, who characterized the conflict in northern Uganda this way: “The L.R.A. has abducted thousands of people, mainly children, tortured and murdered; and looted and destroyed property. The government army has not been able to provide adequate protection to the civilian population.”
According to the transcipt on his Web site, near the end of Friday’s radio segment, Mr. Limbaugh said: “Is that right? The Lord’s Resistance Army is being accused of really bad stuff? Child kidnapping, torture, murder, that kind of stuff? Well, we just found out about this today. We’re gonna do, of course, our due diligence research on it. But nevertheless we got a hundred troops being sent over there to fight these guys — and they claim to be Christians.”
In other words it did NOT matter to Rush what these people were being accused of. All that mattered was that they were self identified Christians, and the President was taking actions against them.
In the world of Rush Limbaugh you can be the most terrible creature known to man, but IF you adorn yourself with with the armor of Christianity you can continue to terrorize your people with impunity, and nobody should raise a hand to stop you.
Especially if that hand belongs to a man that you want to vilify as "attacking Christianity," or as a "secret Muslim," or as wanting to "fundamentally change America.
Now can somebody please tell me again WHY Rush Limbaugh is still allowed to broadcast his program on Armed Forces Radio?
Somewhat off topic, but Rush-centric. The Doonesbury Strip has been banned in certain papers because it takes on the policy in Texas of to require an ultrasound before an abortion is provided.
ReplyDeleteHi, it seems to me that RELIGIOUS FREEDOM could go a LONG way towards saving women from the “shaming wand”… Religious freedoms (and special religious exemptions from rules and laws, like allowing male Jewish people to wear skull-caps in court-rooms where hats are prohibited to the rest of us, as being “disrespectful” to the courts) should not be reserved just for people society calls “virtuous”. Women seeking abortions should be able to get special religious exemptions as well. Please go to www.churchofSQRLS.com and search for (towards the way bottom) “shaming wand”. Then also please see http://www.churchofsqrls.com/sonograms/ for specific and concrete examples on just HOW to use religious freedom to exempt yourselves from the “shaming wand”… As an entirely practical matter! Planned Parenthood web sites won’t tell me their email addresses, so I don’t know how to get the Good Word about Scienfoology “Out There”… Please help! Or at least, spread the Good Word! – SQRLSy_1@ChurchofSQRLS.com
DeleteOh Uncle Gryphen:
ReplyDeleteTo quote the musical The Book of Mormon:
"A war lord who shoots people in the face
What's so scary about that?"
Hitler was a christian.
ReplyDeletebill in belize
Word!
Deleteoops,, sorry. Hitler was a Catholic.
Deletemt bad,,,
bill in belize
It is *severely* upsetting that Rush Limbaugh and sections of the GOP are accusing out President of treason on a near-daily basis. I mean, it goes beyond slander. Rush should be brought to court for it.
DeleteI hate this son of a bitch.He belongs on satelite radio.If you want to listen to the asshole you have to pay for it.He shouldn't be allowed to peddle his hatred on public airwaves.
ReplyDeleteDiabolical people cloak themselves in God and Christianity as a tool to con people. Claims of being a christian or even a hockey mom are implied attributes, virtues, morals, actions that define the lables. Alas, there are dishonest to human evil people who claim to be something they are not to manipulate people they are one of them.
ReplyDeleteIt gives a Calculated immunity to a habitual liar, a common thief who steals from charity, an abusive spouse, sex addict etc to play the Christian card. Naive true christians will rally to uphold and defend their identity even when one of their flock is a wolf in sheeps clothing. They misperceive or react the group identity is attacked not the wolf amongst them. The wolves take advantage of the human weakness preying on it.
The world according to Rush...
ReplyDeleteWomen and girls kidnapped by LRA fighters are sluts and prostitutes. So if they are giving it away for free, we should be able to watch online!
Right Rush? Isn't that what you said?
I have been waiting YEARS for this to happen. SHUT THE ASSHOLE DOWN!
ReplyDeleteCorporate America Turns Its Back On Rush Limbaugh
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203120003
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201203120005
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203110004
UPDATED: Limbaugh's Misogynistic Attack On Georgetown Law Student Continues With Increased Vitriol
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203010012
"Feminazi": The History Of Limbaugh's Trademark Slur Against Women
http://mediamatters.org/research/201203120004
Rush Limbaugh's Worst Advertiser-Sponsored Attacks On The LGBT Community
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203090007
15 Of Limbaugh's Most Offensive And Controversial Comments Targeting Immigrants
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203100005
Radio Experts: Limbaugh May Have Triggered Long-Term Ad Exodus
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203060006
While I support Freedom of Speech, yes, even vile Limpball, I have felt for quite some time that his program should be removed from the Armed Forces Radio programing schedule. The reason being that he continuously contradicts US policy on foreign soils, his rhetoric is not uplifting to the armed forces, in many cases could be construed as being bad for troop moral and team cohesiveness and could be defined at the worst, as sedition. This last screed about Kony proves my point.
ReplyDeleteHis program absolutely should be removed from Armed Forces radio. It's outrageous that it's even there in the first place. There are plenty of incidents where he comes this close to treason. It can't be that complicated to shut it down.
DeleteRush likes the boys in the Dominican Republic. Why does he like ot go there with his pals, taking his viagra with him? He needs to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.
ReplyDeleteWhy would someone vacationing in the DR have his doctor's script and not his own? If I recall it wasn't even in his name. Alarming that all the red flags that little trip sent out and his bots are totally accepting. Cookie must also approve.
DeleteRush said about his Viagra:
Delete"I told the agent that my doctor got the prescription for Viagra for me, in his name, to protect my privacy, given the potential embarrassing nature of Viagra."
Statement of Rush Limbaugh to Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
www.thesmokinggun.com/file/rush-limbaughs-dominican-stag-party?page=2
Rush calls himself a Christian, as do all the war-mongers of the GOP, in fact anyone GOP except Ron Paul. And Rush supports demonizing women, lying, cheating, amassing hordes of cash, being jealous of others...he's just about run the entire 10 commandments into the groud, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteDoonesbury this week takes on GOP anti-abortion rampage, including Limbaugh
ReplyDeleteThe Doonesbury strip, the first installment, is online now. It's good.
From the Guardian:
The strip deals specifically with a law introduced in Texas and other states requiring a woman who wants to have an abortion to have an ultrasound scan, or sonogram, which will show an image of the foetus and other details, in an attempt to make her reconsider.
It portrays a woman who turns up at an abortion clinic in Texas and is told to take a seat in "the shaming room". A state legislator asks if she has been at the clinic before and, when she says she had been to get contraceptives, he replies: "Do your parents know you're a sl*t?"
Later, she says she does not want an intrusive vaginal examination but is told by a nurse: "The male Republicans who run Texas require that all abortion seekers be examined with a 10-inch shaming wand." The nurse adds: "By the authority invested in me by the GOP base, I thee rape."
I thee rape? Wow.
http://www.americablog.com/2012/03/doonesbury-this-week-takes-on-gop-anti.html
That is powerful stuff, and every word TRUE! No wonder Doonesbury is being banned in Texas...but wait, what about Trudeau's 1st Amendment rights? What about the right of Texans to just not read if they disagree? There is no bigger hypocrite than a Republiscum hypocrite.
DeleteDoonesbury has also been banned by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which will not print the upcoming material devoted to Texas. Joseph Pulitzer must be spinning in his grave for his newspaper to have taken this direction.
DeleteOver one milllion views. I think these people stand with Pres. Obama.
ReplyDeleteRush and Kony stand alone.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”
ReplyDelete- Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here.
Russ ought to move to Mississippi. He would be received as their king.
ReplyDeleteThey might mistake him for a big ol' sow and give him the Ned Beatty treatment à la Deliverance.
Delete[cue banjo music]
ABC’s Jake Tapper On KONY 2012: Some Of The Information Is ‘Not Factually Accurate’
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/jake-tapper-on-kony-2012-some-of-the-information-is-not-factually-accurate/
Once again, Republicans and Limbaugh alienate another demographic. Teenagers and college kids are all over this story as it's been promoted through Invisible Children on Facebook. In my local high school, there are signs on the walls -- KONY 2012. With all the millions that Limbaugh has, can't he employ a research assistant to keep him from stepping into shit every other day? I guess not. All the better to help bring him down.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course - this is what Sarah and Todd Palin support as well! Co-opting the label of "Christianity" as a cover for repressing others. The MSM allows this to happen - otherwise - the claims they made of their Christian Family Values would have been thoroughly discredited as a political platform.
ReplyDeleteWith the easily available information that could have been researched as the truth - marital affairs, drug use, failure to parent - resulting in high school drop outs, multiple grandchildren born out of wedlock, the prostitution ring, the intimidation network, and so much more, would have enabled Americans to recognize the hypocrisy of her real time lifestyle and personal values as opposed to her desire to legislate morality and religion based on Biblical Law for the rest of us - but not for charlatans like herself!
Call yourself a Christian and that covers up any crimes against the people. Call yourself a Patriot and that covers up the real desire and efforts to gut the Constitution - and perpetuate endless wars in the name of Christ around the world to enrich weapons manufacturers. Wear the Star of David and this masks the true hatred of the Jewish people!
The Palins, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. - and there are so many others, use the God, the Flag, the Free Market, etc. to feather their own nests and positions of power. Atrocities are committed all around the world by those who wrap themselves with the Flag and the cover of "Christianity".
I am sure the Palins' will soon be trumpeting Limbaugh's faux Christian outrage against President Obama's actions against one of their Ugandan Brethrens in Uganda guilty of wholesale unrestricted slaughter of innocent people. Anything in the name of Christ - after all, it's not like they them selves ever actually lived by Christ's tenets.
The fact of the matter is - while Palin
purports to support Reverend Muthee and Rush Limbaugh feigns outrage over US actions against Kony - these faux "Christians" hate and despise Blacks. Netanyahu also plays this game with Palin and the US Right Wing Fundies, too, accepting their support knowing full well that Jews are despised by the Fundies in the US.
Before Palin set foot in Israel - Netanyahu had every bit of information on Palin in his considerable power to obtain including her association with Muthee and the Dominionists anti-Semitism - probably even a copy of Trig's and Tripp's birth certificates and the proof of prostitution ring! Unlike Palin - he's no fool!
http://open.salon.com/blog/michael_fox/2008/09/27/palins_new_jewish_problem_pastor_says_take_banks_from_jews
Director Of KONY 2012 Video: ‘We Made It Quick And Oversimplified On Purpose’
ReplyDeleteJason Russell, who narrated the video in addition to directing it, told Reuters that he didn’t expect the incredibly detailed story of Joseph Kony and child militias in Africa to be answered in a mere 30 minutes.
“It definitely oversimplifies the issue. This video is not the answer, it’s just the gateway into the conversation. And we made it quick and oversimplified on purpose… We are proud that it is simple. We like that. And we want you to keep investigating, we want you to read the history.”
Meanwhile, the head of the International Criminal Court, who appears in the video, said today that the video has “mobilized the world” and made people more aware of Kony’s crimes against humanity. Invisible Children will reportedly release another YouTube video later today, this one a third of the length of the original, to directly respond to the criticism they’ve gotten over the last few days.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/director-of-kony-2012-video-we-made-it-quick-and-oversimplified-on-purpose/
Should The FCC Kick Rush Limbaugh off the Airwaves?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/online/should-the-fcc-kick-rush-limbaugh-off-the-airwaves/
This country would be a far better place without the hate that this man promotes.
I agree. He should be off the PUBLIC airwaves. I have no problem with his First Amendment Rights to say crazy shit but he should not be allowed to say it on the airwaves owned by the public. I think the FCC should be on this like white on rice.
DeleteXM Sirrus? Sure, he can go there and be as outrageous as he wants to be but on my radio dial? HELL NO! Maybe this is the road that needs to be taken against him. Get his show off the public airwaves and onto satellite radio.
I feel sorry for the people of Africa… that place seems to be a bottomless pit, and I know many liberals who are getting sympathy fatigue.
ReplyDeleteI trust the president to use his best judgment in these matters. I do not trust the rabid, knee-jerk critics. Boycott them all.
Apparently the producer of the Kony 2012 video is making a new one in response to his critics. http://tinyurl.com/7t5axn8
ReplyDeleteGryphen, you have GOT to post the Steve Schmidt video from this morning's Morning Joe. It's riveting.
DeleteWOW. This is FANTASTIC. She is still unfit for office.
DeleteNewspapers Are Considering Pulling Doonesbury Strips About Texas Abortion Law
ReplyDeleteSo what is the content? Jim Romenesko has a description. Here’s a taste:
“Monday: Young woman arrives for her pre-termination sonogram, is told to take a seat in the shaming room, a middle-aged male state legislator will be right with her.
Tuesday: He asks her if this is her first visit to the center, she replies no, that she’s been using the contraceptive services for some time. He says, ‘I see. Do your parents know you’re a slut?’
Wednesday: A different male is reading to her about the transvaginal exam process.
Thursday: In the stirrups, she is telling a nurse that she doesn’t want a transvaginal exam. Doctor says ‘Sorry miss, you’re first trimester. The male Republicans who run Texas require that all abortion seekers be examined with a 10” shaming wand.’ She asks ‘Will it hurt?’ Nurse says, ‘Well, it’s not comfortable, honey. But Texas feels you should have thought of that.’ Doctor says, “By the authority invested in me by the GOP base, I thee rape.’”
Obviously, this is a very serious issue that deserves to be discussed and illuminated through any means including satire. However, Trudeau should remember that his strip appears in the funnies and, therefore, may be viewed by children.
…Ha! Just kidding. No one born after 1998 has ever heard of a newspaper before!
http://www.mediaite.com/print/newspapers-are-considering-pulling-doonesbury-strips-about-texas-abortion-law/
Classic republican thinking:
Delete"The cartoon, the satire, is offensive. But the ugly reality that we created, which the cartoon mocks, is not offensive. The former should be wiped out and obliterated; the latter should be shoved down everyone's throat. Or in this case, up their vagina."
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Vox-News/2012/0309/Why-did-Rush-Limbaugh-defend-Joseph-Kony-and-Lord-s-Resistance-Army-video
ReplyDelete“Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them,” Limbaugh said last Oct. 14, according to a show transcript.
Limbaugh then went on to read from what he said were the group’s self-described objectives, which included “to remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.”
“Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting,” said Limbaugh, implying that the US had taken the wrong side in the battle.
Didn't the Palin's church have speakers and religious leaders of unique Christian beliefs?
ReplyDeleteRush Limbaugh's Advertisers, March 12
ReplyDeletehttp://mediamatters.org/blog/201203120006
Write to your Senator and Representative to request/demand that Limbaugh be taken off Armed Services Radio.
ReplyDeleteWe are allowing subversive, false allegations to be broadcast to our troops. It should be illegal.
If he wants to claim his First Amendment rights, then he can pay to broadcast himself. We, the citizens of America, should not pay for this traitor to spread his ignorance and prejudice.
Sarah just tweeted out a link to a new video from ShePAC. Is this another PAC of hers? Tim Crawford is involved. She is out to get Obama!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ISKQD7ytSk
When is she not out to get President Obama? The SheHitler from Wasilla has an enemy list of people she wants to get even with & the President is enemy #1. The woman is dangerous!!
DeleteRush hates women. Have a read of his "Feminazi" rant at the thread listed on Media Matters. http://mediamatters.org/research/201203120004
ReplyDeleteHere's what I don't understand about Rush discussing contraception or abortion. He doesn't have ANY kids. So what did his four wives do?
He doesn't have any experience with conception or pregnancy. None. He knows nothing about it. He has no understanding of why a woman who was raped/attacked, made pregnancy through incest or otherwise might not wish to have a child. He doesn't even know what pregnancy is like through a normal marriage!
Why would ANYONE listen to him on this topic ever?
Great question, "what did his four wives do?" But it's Rush, so maybe they couldn't "do" anything, ya know? Wink wink?
DeleteI received this e-mail today from John Becker at Truth Wins Out.
ReplyDelete"But if you're like me, you probably haven't heard about this: according to researcher Bruce Wilson and the charity's IRS 990 forms, Invisible Children receives major funding from far-right, anti-gay fundamentalist donors and organizations, chief among them the U.S.-based National Christian Foundation (NCF). The NCF has also provided significant funds to fanatical groups deeply tied to the persecution of LGBT people in Uganda, including that nation's infamous "Kill the Gays" bill.
According to Wilson's report, the NCF (which counts among its biggest donors Rick Santorum's billionaire buddy Foster Friess, by the way) has emerged as the biggest funder of the anti-gay, dominionist Christian right over the last ten years. Groups receiving NCF grants include James Dobson's Focus on the Family; the Family Research Council, a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified anti-gay hate group; the Fellowship Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the subversive D.C.-based fundamentalist shadow organization known as "The Family;" and Harvest Evangelism, a California-based ministry whose founder, Ed Silvoso, has worked with Julius Oyet, a leading promoter of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
NCF also funds The Call, led by Lou Engle, a notorious anti-LGBT extremist who frequently uses violent imagery in his tirades against homosexuality. In 2010, Engle brought The Call to Uganda, where the legislature was already considering the infamous "Kill the Gays Bill" - authored and sponsored by MP David Bahati, a member of The Family. Engle's rally, which Bahati attended, stoked the fires of homophobic hatred and helped to create an even more frenzied climate of intolerance in that country."
Sometimes things just get too twisted to figure out, but Rush should love them...if he ever did his homework instead of just shooting off his big mouth.
Now I need to go sort this out for myself.
Well, I'm not surprised the Repub1%cants are upset. Obama is trying to oust a guy that has all of the qualities they embrace. Suppression of the people, especially women, war monger and religious leader. What's not for a Limbaugh to love?
ReplyDeleteThis is basically a if Obama is for it I'm against it stance. No matter what. No matter how heinous.
The g NO p is really stepping in it now.
Now all they need is for Bible Spice to step up to defend Kony. She'll probably get him mixed up with the United Nations.
Why is Rush not being referred to as a Misogynazi?
ReplyDeleteO/T: Hey, Gryphen, did you see the story about the Mississippi state house? Apparently, in almost 140 years no one noticed until about a week ago that the official stone engraving of the state motto "Proud to be ignorant" was misspelled as "Proud to be ignerent".
ReplyDeleteLots of finger-pointing, as you can well imagine. The most likely culprits are either the darkies or the jews, but a full investigation is underway, as one might expect.
The fiercest debate seems to be whether it should be corrected or not. Most residents of the state appear to like the current rendition; as one toofless young codger with a mowf fulla chaw put it, "Well, ah reckon that's tha way ah always done spelt it and that's tha way ah figger it always orta be."
Some folk seem to question the need for such a distraction when there's gay rights, evolution, climate change and a muslim president to combat but in a part of our great nation still fighting the Civil War there seems to be plenty of hostility to reality to go around.
A history of Rush Limbaugh's disturbing attacks on children
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americablog.com/2012/03/history-of-rush-limbaughs-disturbing.html
America has enough on its plate. We don't need to intervene in Uganda. We are bankrupting our country with the wars that we are already involved in. I have sympathy for these people but in the end America can't fix the world. There are atrocities that happen everyday, all around the world. Africa has to find its own way as there is so much wrong in so many African countries. Once we oust Kony, then what? What will be next on our plate? We need to focus our attention on an America that is still teetering on the brink of economic failure and joblessness. There are forces at war against Americans right here in America and they are attempting to stall healthcare for all, and attempting to lower our standards of education and make higher education unaffordable. There are hungry and hurting people here in our own country; abused and starving children. We need to strengthen America before we intervene anywhere else. There are other sympathetic countries within the UN that can pick up where we can no longer afford to go. Let us let them.
ReplyDeleteUS intervention in Uganda is solely to do with the recent large discovery of oil there and in the Sudan. It's nothing to do with helping the people and all to do with your country's addiction to cheap energy.
DeleteWhile any intervention is normally sold to the public as a humanitarian effort, the real aims are always grounded in self-interest.
I have followed Invisible Children since 2006, when my youth program became interested in the work they were doing and the fact that so many young people were putting their selfish interests aside to help children in a part of the world they had never heard of. Each year, dozens of roadies step forward to go on the road for little or no pay to speak to school groups, universities, church groups etc. to get the word out. I have attended many of their events and hosted one myself. These young people were remarkable and my own children (and those in my youth program) believe for the first time in their lives that they can step forward on an issue they believe in and make a difference in the world.
ReplyDeleteInvisible Children are not new and they have had doors slammed in their face consistently by legislators because these children did not meet "our national interest". They have slept outside on the ground to bring attention, marched in the cold and rain to bring attention.
Finally, the universe brought them the attention they deserved. Just as predictably, naysayers have stepped forward to throw water on them and diminish what they have accomplished. As I have long been a supporter both financially and morally, many have written me to get my opinion on the controversy. My response to their expenditures for videos/filming: As of today, 75 million people now know about Joseph Kony and the tens of thousands of children he was maimed, killed raped and damaged for life. How many people would have watched if it was much less compelling and professional?
I have nearly 10 of their videos and each one is inspiring and compelling. If I were a mother living in one of the Internally Displaced Camps, I would thank God there were three young men who traveled their as teenagers, heard the stories of their children and promised to come home and do something about it. Shame on those who would rather try and bring them discredit rather than praise them for honoring their promise and tenaciously staying with their effort to make things better.
The poster at 2:47 is either deceived or a troll spreading lies.
DeleteRead this:
www.talk2action.org/story/2012/3/11/145213/275/Front_Page/Tax_Forms_Show_Invisible_Children_Funded_By_Antigay_Creationist_Christian_Right
Must read info on those behind the KONY 2012 video. Referenced by a few above, and probably this has been posted as a link but here it is:
ReplyDeletewww.talk2action.org/story/2012/3/11/145213/275/Front_Page/Tax_Forms_Show_Invisible_Children_Funded_By_Antigay_Creationist_Christian_Right
I am poster 2:47. To be called a troll on this issue is incredible. To be sent one article negative against them is sad.
ReplyDeleteGo to any major university website in the US and do a search on an "Invisible Children" on their student affairs website. Most have a club working on it.
Young people all over the nation and the world have followed, believed, and some, have stepped up to help. Have you ever heard of this group before last week? Many of us have. Many of us have heard and stepped up to help these children.
Before watching Kony 2012, had you even heard of Uganda, much less gone there? It shares a border with Rwanda, do you know the linkage between the genocide there and the LRA? I doubt it.
Have you ever stepped up to meet a child who has lost parents, siblings, or their homes to violence in this part of Africa? I have, many of them - and I felt despair that I could do little to mitigate their plight in life. One now calls me Mom because her father and mother were killed in the violence. Despite the horror she has survived, she remains one of the most impressive young women I will meet in my lifetime.
Do not diminish the mission of this group because of one article you have read. People are talking now about the "travel budget" of this group and painting them as using money for lavish travel.
Do you know what the majority of that money was used for? Are your ears opened to understanding it? Invisible Children has sent out an army of young people in 15 passenger vans, with little money, and counting on colleges, universities, community and church groups to host an event to simply hear the message that the world finally woke up to with this video. They slept little, and slept where they could to bring this message to a world who was too involved to hear them. These kids did not step up out of arrogance, greed or personal gain. That is what our culture has painted their generation to be. I have hope in our country because I have been blessed to spend time listening to their hope for the world. My own children have gained a sense of purpose about their ability to affect the world having listened to them.
Last summer, I worked with a large group of middle schoolers at a university project. The program spotlighted programs (social entrepreneurship) led by youth that sought to make a change in the world. We showed them 10 programs, IC, Toms Shoes, Solar Ear, the Algebra Project and many more.
They were tasked with understanding the social program the group was trying to address. None had ever heard of IC, but 15 chose to learn and understand what they were trying to do and figure out something to do to help that area of the world. Most of those kids never felt their own power to affect the world because they had never been invited to embrace it.
Last week, IC found a voice and every single one of those 85 camp participants now understands that young people, just like them, saw a pain in the world, made a promise, and went on to dedicate their lives to it.
Call me a troll if you would like. If any words I have spoken to youth less jaded than you sunk in to give them strength and confidence to meet a social ill, - your insult has been negated.
Yes, if you have watched Uganda, their actions against the LGBT community in their nation have been shameful. It is an issue that needs to be confronted. If that cause gives you an inspiration to act on their behalf, I send you God's speed and all of my desires for that tragedy to change. Please study hard Africa, and especially the unique cultural challenges of Uganda and this portion of Africa, before you empower yourself to take on the challenge. Once again, God speed. This issue must be confronted.
Same old crooks, again.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sott.net/articles/show/242653-The-Kony-2012-Delusion